Fulgencio Obelmejias

Fulgencio Obelmejias (born January 1, 1953), sometimes known also as Fully Obel is a Venezuelan former boxer, who was world Super-Middleweight champion.

Biography

Obelmejias was born in San José de Río Chico. He represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, where he was eliminated in the first round by Cuba's eventual bronze medalist Luis Felipe Martínez.

Professional career

He began his professional career, in the Middleweight division, on January 30, 1977, knocking out Franklin Suzarra in the first round at Caracas. After another win over Suzarra, he embarked on a tour of Mexico and southern California, having six consecutive fights in those areas from October 1977 to April 1978. In his first fight abroad, held at Mexico City, he worked for nine rounds in only his third professional bout before knocking out Jesus Garcia Ortiz. His second to last fight of that tour was against Abel Cordoba, whom he beat by a ten round decision in Tuxtla Guitierrez on February 27. His last fight on that tour, against Rudy Robles in Tijuana on April 3, marked the beginning of a seventeen fight knockout win streak. He knocked out Robles in four rounds.

After the fight with Robles, Obelmejias had six consecutive fights in his native Venezuela, including a win over Johnny Heard. He then returned to Mexico, to fight for the Fecarbox Middleweight title against Carlos Marks on December 17 in Culiacán. He won the regional title, as well as a top ten ranking at the Middleweight division by the WBC, by knocking Marks out in nine rounds.

Obelmejias kept winning fights by knockouts, and, on March 3 of 1980, he got one of the biggest wins of his career, when he beat former WBC world Jr. Middleweight champion Elisha Obed in three rounds at Caracas.

After eight more wins, all by knockout, Obelmejias was made the number one contender for the world Middleweight title by the WBC.

When his first chance to become a world champion arrived, on January 17 of 1981, many Venezuelans had faith that he would become world champion; his record at the time (30-0 with 28 knockouts) impressed many boxing fans. However, Obelmejias lost for the first time, being handed an eighth round knockout loss by then world champion Marvin Hagler in an HBO Boxing televised fight that took place at the famed Boston Garden, home of the NBA basketball's Boston Celtics.

Obelmejias won eight fights in a row, all by knockout, before being given a rematch by Hagler. Among those beaten during that new streak were former world Jr. Middleweight champion Eddie Gazo, beaten in two rounds in Caracas, future world champion Chong-Pal Park, knocked out in eight rounds, also in Caracas, and Alfredo Escalera's cousin, Reyes Escalera, also beaten in two rounds, in Barquisimeto.

On October 30 of 1982, he and Hagler had a rematch which was, once again, shown in the United States by HBO. The second time around, Hagler defeated Obelmejias by a knockout in five rounds at Sanremo, Italy. Both Hagler and Obelmejias fell in love with Italy and the country's culture. Obelmejias established himself there immediately after the rematch with Hagler. Hagler moved to Italy as soon as he lost the world Middleweight title to Sugar Ray Leonard in 1987.

After his rematch with Hagler, Obelmejias won nine straight bouts before being upset, on July 27 of 1985, by Clarence Osby. Amongst the quality fighters that he defeated during that nine fight winning streak were Jeff Lampkin, beaten by an eight round decision, Jerry Celestine, also beaten over eight rounds, and Eric Winbush, who was beaten in Monte Carlo by another eight round decision.

Then, on May 30 of 1986, he became the Caribbean Light-Heavyweight champion, when he outpointed Tomas Polo Ruiz over ten rounds at Isla Margarita.

He lost the title in his first defense, when he was knocked out by future world champion Leslie Stewart in four rounds, at Trinidad and Tobago on November 15 of 1986.

After one more win, he was given a third try at becoming a world champion, when the WBA's Super Middleweight champion, Obelmejias' former rival, Chong-Pal Park, offered him a shot.

The third time proved to be the charm for Obelmejias, when he beat Park by a twelve round decision on May 23, 1988 at South Korea. With that win, Obelmejias had fulfilled his lifelong dream; as well as the dream of his fans' of becoming a world champion.

His stint as world champion did not last long, however, and he lost the title during his first defense, 370 days after winning it, being knocked out in eleven rounds by In-Chul Baek, also in South Korea.

Retirement

Obelmejias retired for good after three more wins; he was approaching, at 38, the mandatory boxing retirement age of 40 in Venezuela after his last fight, a ten round decision win over Eduardo Rodriguez.

Obelmejias had a record of 52 wins and five losses, with 41 wins by way of knockout.

Professional boxing record

52 Wins (41 KOs), 5 Losses (4 KOs)
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	22-9	Eduardo Rodriguez	PTS	10	15/12/1992	Caracas, Venezuela	Venezuelan Law Required Retirement at Age 40 for Fulgencio Obelmejias.
Win	--	Template:Country data Ota	KO	3	18/12/1991	Auckland, New Zealand
Win	8-1-1	Chris Nicolaou	KO	6	29/09/1991	Auckland, New Zealand
Loss	44-2	In-Chul Baek	TKO	11	28/05/1989	Yeosu, South Korea	Lost Lineal/WBA super-middleweight titles.
Win	46-3-1	Chong-Pal Park	UD	12	23/05/1988	Suanbo, South Korea	Won Lineal/WBA super-middleweight titles.
Win	17-0-1	Chris Reid	KO	10	18/06/1987	New York City, United States
Loss	21-1	Leslie Stewart	TKO	4	16/11/1986	Mucurapo, Trinidad & Tobago	Lost WBA Fedelatin light-heavyweight title.
Win	14-5-1	Tomas Polo Ruiz	PTS	12	30/05/1986	Porlamar, Venezuela	Won WBA Fedelatin light-heavyweight title.
Loss	12-5	Clarence Osby	PTS	8	21/07/1985	Campione d'Italia, Lombardia, Italy
Win	9-2	"Lucky" Leon Taylor	KO	2	15/12/1984	Calabria, Italy
Win	14-7	Eric Winbush	PTS	8	22/09/1984	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Win	14-2-3	Cesar Abel "La Bestia" Romero	PTS	8	14/07/1984	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Win	9-5	Arthel "Bam Bam" Lawhorne	PTS	8	28/04/1984	Campania, Italy
Win	13-8	Henry Sims	KO	4	23/03/1984	Chiavari, Liguria, Italy
Win	27-11-1	Jerry Celestine	PTS	8	25/02/1984	Paris, France
Win	21-4	Jeff Lampkin	PTS	8	14/12/1983	Loano, Liguria, Italy
Win	11-3	Raymond Gonzales	TKO	4	24/10/1983	Saint Vincent d'Aoste, Valle d'Aosta, Italy
Loss	54-2-2	"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler	TKO	5	30/10/1982	Sanremo, Liguria, Italy	For Lineal/The Ring/WBA/WBC middleweight titles.
Win	4-1-1	Willie Torres	TKO	8	09/08/1982	Porlamar, Venezuela
Win	2-12	Reyes Escalera	TKO	2	14/06/1982	Barquisimeto, Venezuela
Win	8-30-5	Johnny Wise	KO	2	15/02/1982	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	22-1-1	Chong-Pal Park	KO	8	07/11/1981	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	44-8-2	Eddie Gazo	KO	2	06/10/1981	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	10-1-1	Wayne Barker	TKO	2	31/08/1981	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	10-17-1	Joe Gonsalves	TKO	2	30/05/1981	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	24-10-6	Norberto Rufino Cabrera	KO	5	04/05/1981	Caracas, Venezuela
Loss	50-2-2	"Marvelous" Marvin Hagler	TKO	8	17/01/1981	Boston, Massachusetts, United States	For Lineal/The Ring/WBA/WBC middleweight titles.
Win	16-5-1	James Waire	TKO	3	28/11/1980	Campione d'Italia, Lombardia, Italy
Win	15-2	Leroy Green, Jr.	TKO	3	31/10/1980	Rome, Lazio, Italy
Win	12-5	Fred "Thump" Johnson	TKO	3	10/09/1980	San Remo, Liguria, Italy
Win	13-11-6	Felton Marshall	PTS	10	19/08/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	6-11-1	Clifford Wills	TKO	3	30/06/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	10-6	Lamont Lovelady	PTS	10	26/05/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	--	Walter Miranda	KO	1	14/04/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	18-11-1	Abel "El Tigre" Cordoba	KO	2	01/04/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	77-9-4	Elisha Obed	KO	3	03/03/1980	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	14-3	"Sugar" Ray Phillips	KO	4	17/12/1979	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	1-4	George Lee	TKO	1	26/10/1979	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	4-12-1	Sammy Floyd	TKO	10	16/09/1979	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	2-2	Luis Arias	KO	2	07/08/1979	Caracas, Venezuela	Retained WBC FECARBOX middleweight title.
Win	11-4	Jamie Thomas	KO	5	01/04/1979	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	9-16-3	Angel Jose Ortiz	KO	2	10/02/1979	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	33-30-1	Carlos Marks	TKO	9	17/12/1978	Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico	Won WBC FECARBOX middleweight title.
Win	2-5	Ken Blackwell	KO	3	12/11/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	14-11	Johnny Heard	KO	7	17/09/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	44-36-3	Willie "Sweetwater" Warren	RTD	9	30/07/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	26-9-4	Sandy Torres	KO	4	15/07/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	14-18	Jose Anglada	KO	1	04/06/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	3-5-1	Rolando Martinez	TKO	1	30/04/1978	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	33-8-1	Rudy Robles	KO	4	03/04/1978	Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico
Win	8-7-1	Abel "El Tigre" Cordoba	PTS	10	27/02/1978	Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico
Win	7-3	Vicente "El Zurdo" Pinon	KO	2	04/02/1978	Mexico City, Mexico
Win	0-1	Rogelio Vera	KO	2	17/12/1977	Mexico City, Mexico
Win	6-5-1	Andre Beard	KO	1	18/11/1977	San Diego, California, United States
Win	1-0	Jesus Garza Ortiz	KO	9	22/10/1977	Mexico City, Mexico
Win	0-1	Franklin Suzarra	TKO	2	03/04/1977	Caracas, Venezuela
Win	--	Franklin Suzarra	TKO	1	30/01/1977	Caracas, Venezuela	Professional debut.

References

• Boxing Record